


Rainbow Scales

by chanonfire



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 04:03:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6358534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chanonfire/pseuds/chanonfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mermaid! AU | Chan x OC — Seon Yul<br/>Stay away from the ocean, Chan. It’s no good for you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rainbow Scales

_**Stay away from the ocean, Chan. It’s no good for you.** _

Those are words that Chan has heard over and over again. He heard them so often that he actually started believing them. The problem is, how can he stay away from the ocean if where he lived was surrounded by it? But the fear for the ocean isn’t enough to stop him from visiting it. 

Everyone in Aqua is afraid of the ocean. It’s been the island’s fear for thousands of years. The only excuse everyone had for this fear was that the mermaids will come and kill you if you set foot in their territory. The only people who were allowed to swim were fishermen. Even then the bravest of the brave still used boats to explore the sea. Chan never understood the logic of this island. How can everyone be afraid of something they don’t even know exists? He hated that part of his life. How everyone around him surrounded themselves in fear of the unknown. 

Chan wasn’t like them, though. He wanted to explore that sea and prove to everyone that there was nothing to fear. 

—

The only person who understand Chan was Soonyoung, he prefers to be called Hoshi. In fact, it was Hoshi who opened his eyes to the beauty of the sea. 

 _“Do you know why I prefer to be called Hoshi?”_ Chan nodded his head and signaled Hoshi to go on with his explanation. Hoshi pointed up the night sky and continued.

 _“Because Hoshi means star in Japanese!”_ he lowered his arm and his smile slowly started faltering but he quickly regained his happiness. 

_“If the stars look beautiful on top of the world, what about the bottom? I think swimming in the ocean would be like swimming in the night sky.”_

Hoshi takes off his shoes and dips his feet into the water. Something that could have grounded him for months if caught. But it’s not like Chan would tell on his hyung. Gathering courage, Chan follows the boy’s lead and takes off his shoes slowly inserting his feet into the water. Hoshi smiles at him and starts splashing the water with his feet. 

Feeling the water beneath his feet makes him realize how much he hates being held back from everyone in this island. Why couldn’t he swim in the ocean? Why is everyone so scared of being drifted away to somewhere else? And worst of all, why is everyone scared of mermaids when they don’t even exist? 

 _“Hyung…”_ Chan spoke softly,  _“do they really exist?”_

Hoshi’s feet stopped splashing the water and he looked at Chan, his eyes were filled with sadness. 

 _“Do you believe they exists?”_ Chan nodded his head as a no. 

_“I see… well I don’t think we’ll ever know. But one thing is for sure, they are the only ones who understand who we feel.”_

_“What do you mean?”  
_

_“You’ll understand one day.”  
_

Chan doesn’t know how much longer he can hold back. 

—

Another argument with his parents. Chan doesn’t know how long this has been going on. Ever since he told his parents he wanted to become a fishermen that explores the ocean his parents have been on his back. One day he’ll be completely scared of the ocean and the next he wants to explore it. Even Chan doesn’t know what he really wants.  

_“Haven’t we told you that the ocean is no good for you?!”_

_“Why?! Tell me why it’s so bad and maybe I’ll listen to your words!”_ Chan’s mom sighed at his words and turned to her husband.

_“Listen, the ocean is a dangerous place. Why are you trying to leave the island that is protecting you?”_

_“This island is trapping me from seeing the beauty of the world! You guys are just scared of something… something you don’t understand!”_

Chan runs out the door, his vision blurry from the tears. It didn’t help that earlier that day they announced that a typhoon was coming towards Aqua. But he ran despite of all the rain hitting his face. He arrived to the beach, the only place that showed nothing all but the ocean. The waves were angry, crashing onto the shore. 

And he did what everyone was scared to do. He jumped into the water.

Seconds passed and he felt himself going deeper and deeper under the ocean. His arms flailing helplessly, trying to bring himself to the top where he could breathe. Times like these he regrets all the moments he ignored his mom to go to swimming lessons. Then he gets angry. They can swim in pools but not in the ocean. 

Right, he’s drowning and he’s still angry with his parents. 

Chan’s scared. He’s always been scared so why did he jump into the water? He takes a look of the surface above his head. He watched how the sun kept getting blurry from the waves. Chan lets out a internal bitter laugh and curses at the sun for making fun of him. The sun starts illuminating the bubbles that were made by him and his vision starts fading. That’s when he see’s it. Long hair flowing in the water follow by a… a tail? He’s not sure if he was seeing right but he can’t find the answer. That is because he lost his conscious since seeing it. 

Chan was announced missing 45 hours later. 

—

Chan awoke to the sound of crying. 

_“I can’t do it…”  
_

Chan got up and walked towards the rocks where he heard a girl was crying. He slipped on the rocks from surprise when he saw a long tail where legs should be. The girls head snapped towards his direction and her eyes widened when she saw the conscious boy. Out of instinct she dived into the water and swam away. 

 _“W-wait!”_ Chan yelled out after her. He waited for her a long time and right when he was about to give up he saw a pair a bright blue eyes peering at him from the ocean. He jumped from surprise.

 _“Ah! You scared me!”_ He yelled and put his hand over his chest. This only caused the girl do dive back into the water. 

 _“Wait! I’m not going to hurt you!”_ She disappeared. Chan let out a sigh and kicked a rock to the side. He took another look at the ocean and saw the same pair of eyes staring at him, only closer. Chan let out another sigh and sat on the rocks and started to cry himself. The mermaid was so surprised she brought her head above the water and showed her face. 

 _“Are you okay?”_  Chan starts crying even harder at the question. The girl dove back into the ocean and came back after a couple of minutes. She gently placed a pearl on the rocks and quickly swam away. Chan looks at the pearl and picks it up observing it, wiping away his tears to see better. 

 _“You can eat it.”_ And on time Chan’s stomach grumbled. He takes one last look at the pearl and puts it into his mouth. It tastes so sweet that he immediately smiled. This of course made the girl in the water smile as well. 

—

After a couple of days, Chan managed to gain the trust of the mermaid. He found out that her name was Seon Yul. She talked to him but she never left the water. Chan ate the fish Seon Yul caught for him and happily listened to her stories about the bottom of the ocean. Chan swallowed and gathered up the courage to ask the question he’s been dying to ask. 

_“Seon Yul, can you show me your full body?”_

Seon Yul’s eyes immediately widened and she lowered her head into the water, only showing her eyes once again. 

 _“You don’t have too!”_ Chan said already regretting his question. 

Next thing you know, Seon Yul is pulling her body above the water onto the rocks where Chan was sitting. He stared in awe when he saw the tail that was longer than his whole body. His eyes wandered above and he blushed when he saw the only piece of clothing Seon Yul had on was a bra made of clams. His eyes quickly went back to her tail. It was dark black with a couple of silver scales here and there. 

_“… You’re beautiful.”_

The mermaid didn’t make eye contact and kept her eyes on the ocean. Her wet hair covering her face. Chan’s hands suddenly reached out and touched the girl’s scales. She flinched at his touch and he immediately pulled his hand back and apologized. Curios, Chan hand reached out and pushed back the hair that covered her face, this time Seon Yul didn’t flinch. Instead, she looked at him and smiled slightly. 

And she suddenly starts coughing up sand, something she said wasn’t supposed to happen to mermaids. 

—

He watched as the girl coughed up more sand each day. She told him that the reason she is coughing up sand is because she was never meant to be a mermaid. There wasn’t many of them, but that didn’t mean all of them were destined to be mermaids. She also told him that some people from Aqua used to be mermaids but most of their memories were lost in the process of becoming human. 

 _“What do they do to become human?”_ Chan asked while playing with the diamond bracelet the girl wore. 

 _“It’s simple. If a mermaid and human want to switch places, all they have to do is drown together.”_ Seon Yul coughed up more sand.

 _“However, it doesn’t matter if both sides agree to this. Most cases of transformation are murder.”_ Chan’s eyes widened at her statement. 

 _“I couldn’t kill you.”_ Seon Yul looked at the boy and gave him a sad smile. Chan suddenly stood up and looked towards the ocean that seemed to stretch into infinity. 

 _“Let’s trade places.”_ Seon Yul looked at him with a confused expression on her face. Before she had a chance to say anything Chan cut her off. 

_“I know I want this just as much as you.”_

Seon Yul looked at him one last time, looking for any sign of hesitation in his eyes. None were found. Chan lowered his body into the sea and nodded at her. He was ready for this. She linked her hands with his and gave him one last smile to reassure him. Seon Yul dove deep into the sea and started swimming as fast and as deep as she could. 

There is no turning back now. 

_—_

This time Chan wasn’t scared. He stared at the moon that kept getting farther away from reach. He takes another look around the sea and takes in the scenery he is currently experiencing. He turns and looks at Seon Yul and watches as her hair gently flows through the water, her tail flapping. The same view he saw on the night he drowned in Aqua. But this time he’s not scared. Though his conscious is fading his mind is at peace. He’s becoming one with the ocean.

_Hoshi hyung, it really is like swimming in the night sky._

—

The funeral was held after a few days after his body was found ashore. The fisherman who found him said that Chan had his arms peacefully crossed over his chest and that he was holding flowers that he’s never seen before. As cruel as it sounds he also said that Chan had a peaceful look on his face. 

The next few days were full of silent tears from people who lived in the island. Everyone in Aqua believed that the rain that kept falling was making it harder for Chan to rest in peace. 

But when something is lost, something else is gained. 

Hoshi saw an unfamiliar figure polishing Chan’s grave a month after Chan passed.

 _“What’s that?”_ Hoshi asked while trying to take a closer look at the jar she placed next to the grave. Getting a closer look, he realized that it was a jar full of pearls, seashells, and sand that resembled diamonds. 

 _“A gift,”_ she smiled and went back to polishing the grave. 

For some reason Hoshi felt like he could tell what he felt to this girl. _“Everyone says that it was the water who took him away… but I don’t think that’s true.”_ Silence followed but Hoshi continued.

 _“Chan was scared of the water but I could tell he really loved it.”_ He took a seat next to her and takes the cloth from her hands and started wiping the letters of Chan’s name.

 _“I would like to believe that Chan died seeing the beauty of the ocean…”_ Silence once again but this time it was the girl who interrupted it. 

 _“I’m Seon Yul, I’m new in town.”_ Hoshi smiled and bowed to the girl, introducing himself. 

—

 _“So is this the last time you’re coming to see me?”_ Chan asked while splashing the water with his tail. 

Seon Yul nodded and handed Chan the bracelet she always wore. _“Show this to Poseidon. He’ll understand.”_ Chan gently took the bracelet and slipped it onto his wrist. 

Seon Yul grabbed a handful of sea water and poured it all over the boy’s body. _“Your tail… it’s beautiful. You don’t see this pattern of scales often.”_ Chan dipped his tail in the water and brought it up to the surface,the rainbow pattern glittering under the moonlight. 

 _“I still liked yours better.”_ Seon Yul let out a laugh and pushed the boy back into the water. He let the water immerse him, only peeking his eyes above sea level.  _“Good bye, Chan.”_

_“You really won’t look for me anymore?”  
_

_“No.”_

It really is goodbye this time. The boy nodded and went under the ocean, swimming away from the shore. They can’t get attached, that’s the rule after all. 

_**Embrace the ocean, Seon Yul. It will forever be your home.** _


End file.
